Spiritual Pattern Part 11

In my vision, the man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple. There I saw a stream flowing east from beneath the door of the Temple and passing to the right of the altar on its south side.

The man brought me outside the wall through the north gateway and led me around to the eastern entrance. There I could see the water flowing out through the south side of the east gateway.

Measuring as he went, he took me along the stream for 1,750 feet and then led me across. The water was up to my ankles.

He measured off another 1,750 feet and led me across again. This time the water was up to my knees. After another 1,750 feet, it was up to my waist.

Then he measured another 1,750 feet, and the river was too deep to walk across. It was deep enough to swim in, but too deep to walk through.

He asked me, "Have you been watching, son of man?" Then he led me back along the riverbank.

When I returned, I was surprised by the sight of many trees growing on both sides of the river.

Then he said to me, "This river flows east through the desert into the valley of the Dead Sea. The waters of this stream will make the salty waters of the Dead Sea fresh and pure.

There will be swarms of living things wherever the water of this river flows. Fish will abound in the Dead Sea, for its waters will become fresh. Life will flourish wherever this water flows.

INTRODUCTION

Good Evening Southpointe! We are in the 11 lesson on the Wilderness Tabernacle.

Last week we studied about the Laver, We studied about the origin and its purpose and its form. We talked about the mirrors and the water.

I want to talk to you tonight about the water or the ministry of the Holy Spirit and that it always comes by the way of the altar.

In my vision, the man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple. There I saw a stream flowing east from beneath the door of the Temple and passing to the right of the altar on its south side.

The laver was to be filled with water it was water that came from the smitten rock and that Rock was Christ.

and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ.

The laver was filled so men could be cleansed, because the Rock had been smitten.

Now this is something to remember again, At the altar we see the blood of atonement but at the laver we see the water of cleansing. Both are needed.

Both come to us through our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Let’s take a quick trip but to Calvary, do you remember when they pierced Jesus’ side.

One of the soldiers, however, pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out.

The blood first and then the water.

The water, or the ministry of the Spirit, always comes by the way of the altar.

If you believe in the forgiveness of sin, then you must believe also in the indwelling Holy Spirit.

If we will trust Him, He will apply the cleansing Word and so it will make us fit for service.

This is very important: The water that in the laver and the blood at the altar are very closely connected, but not more closely than the Spirit and the Word.

If we want to be mighty in the Spirit then we must be mighty in the Word.

Listen to this:

The voice said to me, "Son of man, eat what I am giving you—eat this scroll! Then go and give its message to the people of Israel."

So I opened my mouth, and He fed me the scroll.

"Fill your stomach with this," He said. And when I ate it, it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.

Then He said, "Son of man, go to the people of Israel and give them My messages.

I am not sending you to a foreign people whose language you cannot understand.

No, I am not sending you to people with strange and difficult speech. If I did, they would listen!

But the people of Israel won't listen to you any more than they listen to Me! For the whole lot of them are hard-hearted and stubborn.

But look, I have made you as obstinate and hard-hearted as they are.

I have made your forehead as hard as the hardest rock! So don't be afraid of them or fear their angry looks, even though they are rebels."

Then He added, "Son of man, let all My words sink deep into your own heart first. Listen to them carefully for yourself.

Then go to your people in exile and say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says!' Do this whether they listen to you or not."

Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a loud rumbling sound behind me. (May the glory of the LORD be praised in His place!)

It was the sound of the wings of the living beings as they brushed against each other and the rumbling of their wheels beneath them.

The Spirit lifted me up and took me away. I went in bitterness and turmoil, but the LORD's hold on me was strong.

First, he had to eat the Word himself, The Word was to fill him up.

Then the Spirit lifted him up and takes and put him in the place to be used of God, with the strength and the power to come against the enemy.

Now let’s look at some other very important lessons about the laver.

a. Those that stand before God must be clean.

Every time the priest entered into the holy place he must wash.

Purity of heart is a necessity for seeing God.

Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.

Many people think if they just change a few things in their life than everything will be good between them and God. But it is not that way at all.

It is not so much as changing places or things, we need to see God as a change of state. State of mind and heart.

Be change from inside to the outside.

Believe and thou shalt see!

b. There only one means of cleansing.

If you notice there is only one laver no other one needed. This was God’s provision. They might wash themselves some place else but that would not make them clean before the Lord.

Listen to what Job said:

Even if I were to wash myself with soap and clean my hands with lye,

You would plunge me into a muddy ditch, and my own filthy clothing would hate me.

The purest water of the earth and all the self-will efforts will not cleanse one from their sins.

The old song is true: It is nothing but the blood of Jesus that can wash our sins away.

Song: Connie and Dannie: Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

C. One little act will make you unfit for service if not repented.

If the priest should refuse but once to wash at the laver, this one act of disobedience would make him unfit for his priestly work.

Our secret sins may not affect our lives before men for awhile but our relationship to God is affected at once.

Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:

But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

d. To wash is a matter of necessity, not an opinion.

The priest might say to himself, if i washed in the morning, I don’t see the need of washing again in the evening.

As far as I can see there is not uncleanness.

But It doesn’t matter what the priest thinks it is what the Lord said that matters.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.